Science and Engineering of Hydrogen-Based Energy Technologies: Hydrogen Production and Practical Applications in Energy Generation

Science and Engineering of Hydrogen-Based Energy Technologies

Hydrogen Production and Practical Applications in Energy Generation

Editor

Prof. Paulo Emilio V. de Miranda

Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Coppe-Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Copyright

List of Contributors

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1. Hydrogen Energy: Sustainable and Perennial

Overview

What Hydrogen Energy is About

Full Implementation of Hydrogen Energy Technologies

Hydrogen Energy Application

Concluding Remarks

Chapter 2. Fuel Cells

Introduction to Fuel Cells

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Concluding Remarks

Chapter 3. Potential of Hydrogen Production From Biomass

Introduction

Hydrogen Production From Biomass

Biomass as a Feedstock for Hydrogen Production

Hydrogen Production From Biomass Using Biological Route

Scale-Up of Biohydrogen Production Process

Material and Energy Analysis of Biohydrogen Production Process

Improvement of Energy Recovery by Two-Stage Processes

Conclusion

Chapter 4. Energy Storage Using Hydrogen Produced From Excess Renewable Electricity: Power to Hydrogen

Motivation

Renewable Energy, Volatility, and Storage

Hydrogen Generation Via Electrolysis

Chapter 5. Hydrogen Energy Engineering Applications and Products

Introduction

Chapter 5.1. Hydrogen Production Technology From Fossil Energy

Chapter 5.2. Hydrogen Storage and Transport Technologies

Chapter 5.2.1. High Pressure H2 Storage and LH2 Storage for Transport Technology

Chapter 5.2.2. Hydrogen Storage and Transport by Organic Hydrides and Application of Ammonia

Introduction

Organic Chemical Hydride Method

Dehydrogenation Device and Hydrogen Refinery

Ammonia as Energy Carrier

Ammonia Decomposition

Conclusion

Chapter 5.3. Utilization of Hydrogen Energy

Chapter 5.3.1. Hydrogen Refueling Stations and Fuel Cell Vehicles

Chapter 5.3.2. Application of Hydrogen Combustion for Electrical and Motive Power Generation

Introduction

Characteristics of Power Generation System

Development Trend

Development Status

Hydrogen and Fossil Fuels

Conclusion

Chapter 5.3.3. Application of Hydrogen by Use of Chemical Reactions of Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide

Significance of Chemical Reaction Using Hydrogen

Methanol Synthesis From Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide

Methane Synthesis From Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide

Conclusions

Chapter 5.3.4. Application of Hydrogen Storage Alloys

Nickel-Metal Hydride Rechargeable Battery

Applications of Metal Hydride as a Freezer System [114,116]

Conclusion

Concluding Remarks

Chapter 6. Regulatory Framework, Safety Aspects, and Social Acceptance of Hydrogen Energy Technologies

Preamble

Stage Setting

Best Practices and Regulations, Codes, and Standards

Key Relevant Global Standards Development Organizations

Safety, Risk, and Public Acceptance

Some Practical Examples

In Summary

Chapter 7. Roadmapping

An Introduction to Roadmapping

Types of Roadmap

The Components of a Roadmap

Public Policy

Example HFC Roadmaps

Roadmaps: Implications and Conclusions

Chapter 8. Market, Commercialization, and Deployment—Toward Appreciating Total Owner Cost of Hydrogen Energy Technologies

Hydrogen in the Market Today

CAPEX Versus OPEX—Total Cost of Ownership for Hydrogen Technologies

Future Commercialization Prospects of Hydrogen: Emerging Business Cases

Conclusions

Index

Copyright

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List of Contributors

Marcelo Carmo,     Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

Alberto Coralli,     Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Debabrata Das,     Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

Paulo Emílio V. de Miranda,     Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Sergio P. de Oliveira,     National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology, Duque de Caxias, Brazil

Makoto R. Harada,     Research Adviser, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Research Institute for Chemical Process Technology

David Hart

E4tech, London, United Kingdom and Lausanne, Switzerland

Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Luigi Osmieri,     National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, United States

Nguyen Q. Minh,     University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States

Newton P. Neves, Jr.,     H2 Technical Analyses and Expertise in Gases, Capivari, Brazil

Beatrice Sampson,     University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Bernardo J.M. Sarruf,     Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Vaishali Singh,     Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

Stefania Specchia,     Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy

Robert Steinberger-Wilckens,     University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Detlef Stolten

Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

Andrei V. Tchouvelev,     A.V. Tchouvelev & Associates, Mississauga, Canada

Hirohisa Uchida,     Professor, School of Engineering, Tokai University/President & CEO, KSP Inc., Japan

Foreword

I am delighted to write this foreword, not only because Paulo Emílio V. de Miranda has been a friend and colleague for the past several years, but also because I strongly believe in the way he has been serving in the areas of science and engineering of hydrogen-based energy technologies. Interestingly, the title of this edited book has become the same. Paulo has tried his best to bring the key people on board to contribute to this edited book with their distinct chapters, covering basic aspects of hydrogen and hydrogen energy, fuel cells, hydrogen production methods, energy storage via hydrogen storage, hydrogen transportation, hydrogen stations, hydrogen deployment, hydrogen energy engineering practices and demonstrations, hydrogen energy policies, hydrogen energy roadmaps, hydrogen safety, hydrogen marketing, etc.

This book has educative and training values of interpretive discussions in many subjects for all readers, including students, engineers, practitioners, researchers, scientists, etc. I am sure this book will inspire many young and senior people to advocate about hydrogen energy for sustainable economies. The specific details and discussions on every specific topic make this particular book even more appealing to all readers in every age group. In addition, there is a remarkable set of science-related material in every hydrogen-related subject to emphasize the importance of the applied nature of science. Furthermore, there is huge engineering-related material from A to Z type covering entire spectrum of hydrogen energy from the production to the deployment in various sectors, ranging from residential to industrial and from industrial to utility sectors.

In closing, I am quite satisfied with the authorship of each specific subject and the material presented as well as the science- and engineering-related examples and case studies tailored for the readers, and I am sure that this will be an excellent asset to the hydrogen energy literature.

Last, but not least I warmly congratulate Paulo and his contributors who have brought this unique edited book to fruition.

Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Dincer,     Vice President for Strategy, International Association for Hydrogen Energy, Vice President, World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies

Preface

The world is experiencing its steepest ever-observed growth of energy consumption and population. These two factors coupled with progressively growing urbanization rates at very high levels have threatened the planet and life on it. This has motivated the vision of a sustainable society capable of implementing the creative and innovative concept of a circular restorative economy. Such a vision can be implemented only by transitioning to a new energy era in which hydrogen and renewable energies play a main role. Hydrogen energy is about utilizing hydrogen and hydrogen-containing compounds to generate and supply energy for all practical uses with high-energy efficiency, overwhelming environmental and social benefits, and economic competitiveness. The implementation of hydrogen energy for widespread utilization requires the use of currently available technologies that resulted from intense long-lasting scientific developments involving fuel cells, hydrogen production methods, selection of specific application options, safety and regulations, policies and planning for early adoption, as well as market introduction.

The dawn of hydrogen energy, which brought the practical deployment of sustainable devices and mobility, called for the present text on science and engineering of hydrogen-based energy technologies. Its content was structured in such a way that both knowledgeable professionals in the area, as well as newcomers possessing a strong basis on engineering, energy, or sustainability, will be attracted and interested.

The general approach to hydrogen energy establishes a broad vision of technological possibilities and future prospects. It explores emerging technologies to show that additional efficiency gains and environmental benefits will be progressively achievable as conventional technologies are surpassed. Upon unveiling the occurrence of natural hydrogen on earth, once believed nonexistent, hydrogen energy was presented as sustainable and perennial.

Fuel cells are deeply discussed, with an emphasis on polymeric membrane electrolyte fuel cells and on solid oxide fuel cells and their technological variants, either to generate electrical energy or to consume it for hydrogen production, independently or reversibly.

Biomass is one of the major renewable sources for energy generation and acts as a natural medium for sunlight energy storage. Its enormous availability as residues and wastes (agricultural, industrial, domestic household, municipal) makes its energetic use very beneficial to society. Focus on the production of hydrogen from biomass through biological routes using fermentation processes, in special dark fermentation, is provided.

The progressive increase in the use of renewable energies, which represents the main future prospects of countries and regions for environmental and energy-security reasons, motivates and facilitates the large-scale production of green hydrogen by water electrolysis. Electrolyzer technologies and hydrogen storage methods are thoroughly analyzed and discussed.

Hydrogen utilization applications from the dawning of the hydrogen energy era to the present include transitional technologies, such as the use of hydrogen as fuel in turbines and internal combustion engines. However, the use of hydrogen to feed fuel cells will ubiquitously dominate engineering, mobile, and stationary applications. These options are explored and exemplified with emphasis on technological and engineering procedures.

New regulations, codes, and standards (RC&S) and the adaptation of existing codes are necessary to introduce such technologies into use by the society. This also requires thoroughly understanding and systematizing the roles of the different active regulating institutions as well as establishing and guaranteeing safety protocols. RC&S, metrology, and safety are defined and understood within the ample variety of official world and regional active actors.

Hydrogen may be made available in different world regions depending on local specificities. Also, early deployment of hydrogen energy technologies may be based on niche applications for a specific society. It results that identifying suitable sectors, actions, timing and actors is mandatory for planning and to create adequate policies. Roadmapping techniques were defined, exemplified and discussed as an important tool to make the necessary transition to the hydrogen energy era.

Most of hydrogen, effectively produced in large scale, has a captive use as a chemical product. To be traded as a world energy commodity and also in order to guarantee the market entrance of hydrogen-based technologies, alternative approaches to determining total cost of ownership must be adopted. This approach is explored by taking into consideration externalities associated with the use of conventional technologies that include hidden costs of environmental and societal damage.

I apologize for not being able to include so many other topics of interest, and I hope the selected content will fill the gap of scientific and technological information to understand and foster engineering applications of hydrogen-based energy technologies.

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil, June 2018

Paulo Emílio V. de Miranda

Chapter 1

Hydrogen Energy

Sustainable and Perennial

Paulo Emílio V. de Miranda     Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Abstract

Hydrogen energy involves the use of hydrogen and/or hydrogen-containing compounds to generate energy to be supplied to all practical uses needed with high energy efficiency, overwhelming environmental and social benefits, as well as economic competitiveness. The world is presently experimenting the dawning of hydrogen energy in all sectors that includes energy production, storage, and distribution; electricity, heat, and cooling for buildings and households; the industry; transportation; and the fabrication of feedstock. Energy efficiency and sustainability are two important factors driving the transition from the present fossil fuel–based economy to a circular economy, that is, a renewable circular sustainable fuel utilization cycle that will characterize the highly efficient engineering and the energy technological choices of the 21st century. This chapter analyzes advanced technological options for hydrogen production and discusses methods and prospects of its utilization in the main energy sectors to fully implement the use of hydrogen energy technologies. The unexpected possibility of discovering and harvesting natural hydrogen on earth, once believed inexistent, is unveiled and analyzed for understanding possible geological interpretations to guide future activity of sustainable and perennial fuel.

Keywords

Fuel cells; Hydrogen energy; Hydrogen energy technologies; Hydrogen production; Natural hydrogen

Overview

Hydrogen energy unveils perennial and sustainable energy production and utilization methods to fulfill all needs required by the human society. It represents an opportunity to utilize a great possible variety of raw materials and an energy source, such as electricity, heat, or mechanical work, to obtain fuel to be used in energy-efficient devices and therefrom to generate the same energy elements, such as electricity, heat, or mechanical work, with very limited noise and no aggressive wastes. This circular path concerning energy production and use had not been achieved and made possible for large-scale utilization until the advent of hydrogen energy became a reality.

The adoption and implementation of hydrogen energy makes more clean and sustainable energy available and introduces the creative and innovative concept of a circular economy, restorative by nature. This requires the use of intermittent renewable energy and the adequate control of seasonal energy storage. It also calls for a transition from the present fossil fuel–based energy system that is hitherto characterized for being structured in such a way that it possesses fuel ownership spotted in selective geographical locations, that it presents growing consumption of known reserves to depletion, that its exploitation devastates the environment, and that its utilization is made using energy-inefficient and pollutant engineering procedures and technologies. Such transition is able to create a system that is based on renewable energies, such as hydroelectric, solar, wind, geothermal, and oceanic energies, and is also based on a host of raw materials as source of the energy carrier that includes water and virtually any type of biomass. It makes the selection of primary energy and raw material to be adopted under judicious local possibilities and the possession of fuel to be widely distributed throughout the world, potentially decreasing concentrated ownership for market control. It also introduces the utilization of the most efficient energy converter known, the fuel cell. It abandons the sequential and inefficient conversion of energy forms used by heat engines, turbines, and motors, to make the direct, unique, and highly efficient electrochemical energy conversion of the chemical energy contained in the fuel into electric energy and heat, thereby producing water.

Other energy transitions have been experienced before. Since several thousand centuries ago, biomass, mainly wood, has been used as a source of energy, and watermills and windmills were known since several thousand years ago. Renewable energies and fuels dominated the scene for the period the human kind continuously developed to enter modern times. A transition to the fossil fuel era was made with the use of coal and the steam engine and characterized the Industrial Revolution from the 18th century. The peak supply of world energy with wood occurred around 1850 and that of coal to transition to petroleum happened by 1930. The internal combustion engine was the invention that accelerated the use of oil derivatives and the supply of world energy with oil peaked in 2000. Curiously, the world’s first automobile powered with an internal combustion engine used hydrogen as fuel, which was designed and demonstrated by François Isaac de Rivaz in 1806. Due to political and economic crises related to the commercialization of oil, since the years 1970 the consumption of natural gas increased steadily and is expected to peak by 2050, when the hydrogen economy will be installed and will have paved the way to take the world lead for energy supply. The transition from one fuel to another has not eliminated the use of previous ones. Instead, their utilization has been superimposed with progressive higher amounts. Wood, coal, oil, and natural gas are all simultaneously supplied, as well as the electricity from hydropower, nuclear, thermal, and geothermal plants. In complement to that, much electricity is also generated using modern windmills and photovoltaic solar cells.

It is remarkable to observe what the fuel transitions are able to tell. Wood is chemically more complex and has smaller specific energy (20.6  MJ/kg) than coal (23.9  MJ/kg). Conversely, coal is also chemically more complex and has smaller specific energy than oil (45.5  MJ/kg), which, in turn, repeats this trend with natural gas (52.2  MJ/kg). In addition to that, one may observe that there is an ongoing progressive decarbonization of fuels. The carbon content decreases from wood, to coal, to oil, to natural gas. It is also amazing to realize that the content of hydrogen increases continuously from wood, to coal, to oil, to natural gas, to reach the ultimate, perennial, and carbon-free fuel, hydrogen, for which specific energy equals 142.2  MJ/kg for its high heating value. Fig. 1.1 shows the carbon to hydrogen ratio for selected fuels that demonstrates the spontaneous decarbonization that is taking place, as our society aggregates new fuels to massive utilization [1]. Wood, not shown in Figure 1, has an average carbon to hydrogen ratio of 0.68. Among these, ethanol is usually obtained as a biofuel, made in large scale from sugarcane in Brazil and from corn in the United States. In this case, the photosynthesis process that consumes CO2 from the environment during crop growth compensates the waste carbon resultant from its utilization for energy production. It is noticeable that the use of clean hydrogen and, eventually, ammonia does not involve carbon emission.

Figure 1.1  Carbon to hydrogen ratio in selected fuels. Reproduced from [1] .

The ability to harvest fuels of all types and the talented development of ingenious forms for utilizing them have resulted in very steep, ever-growing, world fuel consumption since the Industrial Revolution. This is depicted in Fig. 1.2 and shows that while the world needed an annual energy delivery of 43.5  EJ for all needs in the year 1900, about 575  EJ was required for the year 2016 and the amazing amount of 760  EJ is expected to be necessary for the year 2040. The later result is deduced using data from several different origins, which were extrapolated based on their historical series of actual measurements.

Figure 1.2  World energy consumption. 1   EJ is equal to 10 ¹⁸   J. It is approximately the energy contained in 7 million tons of gaseous hydrogen or in 170 million barrels of oil. The historical data to the present was gathered from [ 2 – 5 ], including data started in 1800 [2] and the curves showed closed together depicting values for the second half of the twentieth century to the present [ 3 - 5 ]. The shaded area presents extrapolations gathered from [ 3 – 10 ].

This is pushed by a five- to sixfold increase in world population in the total period mentioned, but also because of the widespread use of energy for food production, storage, and distribution, for all sorts of vehicles, appliances, and devices, as well as for closed ambient heating or cooling, which has raised the level of practical, comfortable, and healthy living. However, life on the planet and the planet itself were threatened by such a huge kinetics of liberation to the environment of the carbon contained in fossil fuels, producing greenhouse effect gases and other contaminants.

The world has collectively awakened to worries regarding the environment during the United Nations' 1992 Conference on Environment and Development (Rio-92). An analysis made of the world environmental situation before that moment and from it onto the present shows alarming results, as depicted in Fig. 1.3 [11]. Although the use of products that are sources of allogeneic stratospheric gases under ultraviolet solar radiation, which destroy the ozone layer, has decreased 68%, allowing forecasting that a significant recovery of the ozone layer will occur by 2050, other results have markedly worsened. Per capita freshwater availability decreased 26% in the period especially because of the population increase of 35.5%. In addition, coastal dead zones that are mainly caused by fertilizer runoff and fossil fuel use increased 75.3%, killing large swaths of marine life. The latter, coupled with an annual increase in CO2 emissions of 62.1% and a reduction of 2.8% in total area of forests, has markedly affected the biodiversity with a decrease of 28.9% on vertebrate species abundance. Moreover, the 10 warmest years from a 136-year record have occurred since 1998, and the most recent year of the data treated, 2016, ranks as the warmest on record. The ample recognition of these effects increased the relative importance of environment mitigation actions for controlling climate changes and preserving life in comparison with previous worries about fossil fuels shortage.

In fact, in addition to the pollutants already mentioned, the indiscriminate use of fossil fuels also produces small particulate material with size of up to 2.5  μm, PM2.5, which are especially present in large world metropolitan areas, affecting local population. Dispersed in the air, they are easily inhaled, going through the whole respiratory system until the alveolus, being mainly responsible for the occurrence of respiratory and cardiac illnesses and eventually contributing to injure human life. Made of micrometric solid carbon particles with condensed hydrocarbons on their surfaces, they still bear adhered particles of liquid hydrocarbons that are soluble in organic media, hydrated sulfates, and eventually, small particles of toxic heavy metals. In addition to that, they play the role of bacteria, viruses, and toxic chemical product carriers and pollute the water, soil, plants, food, and also the air. The World Health Organization, WHO, establishes that a safe level of PM2.5 contamination in urban centers is below 10 μg/cm³. Fig. 1.4 presents data gathered in previous publications [12,13] built with data taken from Pascal et al. [14]. It unveils a correlation between mortality peaks and greater levels of air pollution with particulate materials with sizes up to 2.5  μm.

Figure 1.3  Variation on the planet's environmental variables before ( faded line ) and after ( black line ) the United Nations' 1992 Conference on Environment and Development Convention, named Rio-92, which was held in Brazil. 

Reproduced from [11].

The inexorable transition to the hydrogen energy era is taking place with a marked participation of renewable energies. Their inherent intermittent output is well complemented with the production and storage of hydrogen, projecting a perennial renewable circular sustainable cycle. Hydrogen, as an energy carrier, is versatile, clean, and safe. It can be used to generate electricity, heat, and power and still finds many applications as a raw material for the industry. It can be stored and transported with high energy density in the liquid or gaseous states and may be produced from raw materials where it is contained and an energy source. Hydrogen is mostly produced from natural gas, by the steam reforming of methane, which constitutes its cheaper fabrication procedure. Direct consequences of that are the possibilities to include carbon capture, storage, and utilization technologies during the energy transition and/or the use of biomethane to mitigate carbon emissions when producing hydrogen. This can also be achieved by water electrolysis technologies to produce hydrogen, using renewable energies, or yet by gasification of biomasses that opens an enormous opportunity for different regions in the world with their own local specificities in terms of raw materials and energy sources. Natural sources of hydrogen, once thought nonexistent, have been proved in several geographical spots with huge amounts, some with high purity and others combined with methane, nitrogen, helium, and other gases.

Figure 1.4  Average level of environmental contamination with particulate material in air suspension with sizes up to 2.5   μm ( green bars [light gray in print version]) and mortality per 100,000 inhabitants owing to respiratory and cardiac problems ( red curve [dark gray in print version]) in the European cities indicated. 

[12], using information from [13] and data from [14].

Fuel cells that use hydrogen as fuel and oxygen from the air as oxidant constitute the most energy-efficient devices known to date to generate electricity. Their market entry represents an era in the 21st century in which their utilization assumes importance comparable with the one the computers had for the 20th century. They are being applied in all sorts of electric energy–powered applications, with emphasis on the distributed stationary generation of electricity, heavy-duty vehicles, and automobiles. The descriptions about hydrogen energy that follow will inevitably involve the use of fuel cells.

This chapter will describe what hydrogen energy is about, what it is needed to implement its use, the types of applications possible, the challenges faced, and the benefits gained by using it. New possibilities for harvesting hydrogen for perennial energetic use will also be unveiled.

What Hydrogen Energy is About

The annihilation of matter by its collision with antimatter is the most energetic per unit mass energy conversion envisioned, though out of our reach. Interstellar stars, such as our sun, make incredibly effective energetic use of hydrogen; the fusion of four atoms of such light element to produce helium liberates an enormous amount of energy. A small fraction of the hydrogen atoms mass is not converted into mass of the helium atom, and it is enough to generate much energy following the well-known Einsteinian equation. Although nuclear fusion has been developed and experimented for long, it is not practical, economical, or easily feasible to date as an energy generation procedure for large-scale utilization by mankind. Although the energy produced in a fusion reaction is measured in millions of electron volts, the ionization energy to displace an electron from a hydrogen atom in a typical chemical reaction is only 13.6  eV. Even though nuclear fusion might eventually become viable, it is not expected to happen soon. Chemical and electrochemical reactions are, however, accessible as feasible procedures to generate energy. And that is not bad. In fact, it is very good compared with the inefficient 20th century's thermal machines that burned fossil fuels to generate energy using successive conversion steps. The energy-efficient direct, one-step, conversion of the chemical energy contained in the fuel into electric and heat energies using fuel cells is well established to dominate the energy scenario in this century.

Hydrogen energy is about utilizing hydrogen and hydrogen-containing compounds to generate energy to be supplied to all practical uses needed with high energy efficiency, overwhelming environmental and social benefits, as well as economic competitiveness.

The dawning of the hydrogen energy era revolutionizes several aspects of civilized life to allow a circular path concerning energy production and use, giving convenient and beneficial utilization to the huge amount of wastes resultant from developed life style, decarbonizing different sectors of intense energy consumption, making viable to implement large-scale production of renewable energy, better homogenizing the distribution of energy throughout different regions of the world, and facilitating the access to it. To transition from the fossil fuel–based economy to the hydrogen energy economy, provided that technology is available, new approaches have to be put in place, as depicted in Fig. 1.5. These include

1. circular, clean, and beneficial path for energy production and use;

2. widespread use of renewable energies, including

2.1 production and storage of hydrogen to stabilize the delivery of electric energy, regulating the inherent intermittence associated with renewable energies;

2.2 production and storage of hydrogen to act as a buffer to increase resilience of a country or region energy system;

Figure 1.5  The various characteristics and possibilities related to hydrogen energy technology application.

3. use of sewage and of urban and rural organic wastes to produce hydrogen and hydrogen-rich gases and compounds;

4. use of hydrogen to decarbonize activities in sectors such as

4.1 the industry

4.1.1 supplying electrical and thermal energies;

4.1.2 supplying renewable feedstock produced by conveniently reacting hydrogen with biomasses;

4.2 energy supply, as combined heat/cooling and power, to buildings and households, thereby introducing the distributed generation of electrical and thermal powers;

4.3 transportation, including light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles and automobiles for terrestrial, nautical, and aeronautical applications;

5. energy distribution across sectors, countries, and regions using hydrogen and hydrogen-rich gases and compounds as carriers and also hydrogen trading as an energy commodity;

6. facilitating the access to energy in different countries or regions because of local specific options of primary energy source and raw materials to produce hydrogen and also local production of natural hydrogen.

When hydrogen is produced from water electrolysis and used in fuel cells, water appears once again, as a by-product, closing an advantageous circular cycle. Such hydrogen production is considered environmentally friendly when renewable energies are used as the source of energy. This is facilitated in countries such as China, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and others, where much electrical energy is generated by hydroelectric power plants, in which in some periods of the year there is a surplus of turbinable water creating availability of turbinable discharge energy, because of difficulties associated with storing electrical energy once produced. That is, when demand to dispatch electricity decreases, either water is accumulated in a dam, which cannot be done with run-of-river hydroelectric plants, or water is spilled aside, not going through the turbines. Conversely, electricity generated may be used for hydrogen production as a way to store energy. Hydrogen then produced may be used for the various energetic or conventional chemical applications it finds. Similarly, hydrogen production from water electrolysis may also be done using electrical energy originated from other renewable energies, such as wind energy, solar energy, or ocean energy. In such cases, there are two additional benefits concerning the production of hydrogen by water electrolysis using renewable energies. The first one is that hydrogen may be used to complement and adjust electrical energy–delivering issues related to the inherent intermittence of renewable electric energy production. When there is shortage of water, wind, sun or ocean activity but the demand for electricity consumption exists, the hydrogen already produced and stored is available to generate electricity using fuel cells and/or turbines. The second benefit of storing hydrogen is that it can act as a buffer to increase resilience of the whole energy system of a country or region, considering all procedures used to generate electricity, either renewable or not, thereby stabilizing a regional electric energy distribution network.

The world population, once dispersed in rural areas, has modernly been concentrated in large, intensively built and structured environment and densely populated areas, where the exceeding production of wastes challenges the quality of life, threatens the health of living beings, and harms the local ecosystem. Table 1.1 presents data on measured and simulated population and urbanization rate in selected parts of the world. Although there is an ongoing tendency of decreasing the world population average annual growth rate, the world will have more than 9 billion inhabitants in 2040 with a very high rate of urbanization. It is remarkable that a very young society, such as the Brazilian one, is expected to reach 90% of urbanization rate in 2040. It is also important to observe that highly populated countries, such as India and China, will possibly move to urban centers until 2040 about 300 million or 230 million people, respectively, which is a significant increase of urban population, amounting more than the whole population of other countries.

All these urban concentrations generate a host of waste, and an important fraction of the waste collected is organic. In addition to this, there is also an important production of sewage, which in many places is largely untreated, or only primarily treated, before being discarded to the environment. Sewage usually contains and is a carrier of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and parasites. All urban organic wastes and wastewater (sewage) may be treated to produce hydrogen or hydrogen-rich gases, giving a useful destination to a huge urban problem. Similarly, rural and agribusiness wastes may also potentially be used for the production of hydrogen, hydrogen-rich gases, and solid fertilizers.

A fundamental advantage of the widespread use of hydrogen energy is the possibility to help to decarbonize different sectors of activity, with inherent social and environmental benefits. Such decarbonization affects industry in two different aspects. One is related to the supply of clean electricity and high-grade thermal energy. Powering of all sorts of equipment and systems may be made using fuel cells, and the supply of low-grade and high-grade heat may be achieved, feeding hydrogen to burners and heat exchangers. The other concerns the supply of feedstock, mainly for chemical industries, once produced using fossil fuels and consisting of a host of hydrocarbons, which can be alternatively made out of hydrogen and biomasses, thus becoming of renewable origin, while allowing the use of the same industrial methodologies already in place to fabricate the end products.

Two additional sectors of activities are likely to be decarbonized by the use of hydrogen energy and gain very much importance for being, not only, but also located in urban environment, where there is dense concentration of human lives. Their decarbonization causes therefore direct and strong social benefit. One of them is the supply of combined heat/cooling and power to all sorts of residential, business, and public buildings using fuel cells. It presents the additional advantage of shifting from centralized production of electricity and distribution across long distances, which involves energy losses causing high overall inefficiency, to the distributed generation of combined heat/cooling and power. This procedure benefits from the legal framework already put in place for using the well-established distributed generation of electricity with wind and solar energy systems and also the technological adaptation already made to avoid and control the dispersion of harmonics into the grid. Harmonics are unwanted voltage and/or current frequencies eventually generated in distributed energy devices that overload wiring and transformers, heating them up and possibly even causing fires in extreme cases. Such voltage and/or currents are harmful to equipment, decreasing usage reliability and life expectancy. The other sector mentioned for which decarbonization bears magnificent importance for postmodern society is transportation. The ever-growing number of automobiles in the cities and heavy-duty vehicles covering high distances introduces a heavy environmental and social hurdle to human kind, as depicted in Fig. 1.4. Although automobiles call so much attention because of the personal use made with them and the mobility freedom they represent, light-duty vehicles, such as forklift, and heavy-duty vehicles, such as buses, have gained market rapidly powered by hydrogen with fuel cells.

Table 1.1

UN Population Division databases; IEA databases and analysis.

The hydrogen energy era brings an innovation with respect to fuel availability that was not imaginable during the fossil fuel era. The latter has clearly established a strong ownership relation between fuel, countries, and regions. Regional or world political and market-based power has been directly correlated to be proprietary of petroleum, natural gas, and once important coal reserves. Particular land and marine extensions possessing the privilege of such resources have been the motivation for harsh disputes and military actions all throughout the 20th century. In certain cases, politically unstable or unprepared civil organizations in specific countries have easily enriched and threatened other countries with their petro power, contributing to world instability. Conversely, powerful countries have found momentary excuses to occupy and explore certain such regions, once again creating world political instabilities. The hydrogen energy economy changes completely this situation because any country or any world region is able to find its own particular options to combine primary energy source, preferably renewable, and raw material for local hydrogen production to satisfy its own needs while harvesting natural hydrogen has not yet become a reality. Water electrolysis with renewable energy varieties represents an option that gains economic viability with the increase of the magnitude of the particular undertaking in terms of installed power. The enormous experience already accumulated on reforming natural gas to produce hydrogen may also be used with biogases. The immense availability of biomasses in several world regions facilitates to implement gasification or biodigestion processes for hydrogen production. The extra need of hydrogen fuel in a country or region has easy solution by transnational distribution and trading across the world of hydrogen, hydrogen-rich gases,